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January 15, 2012

Investigating process incidents

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway" - Mary Kay Ash, American Businesswoman
I like this saying as it is very relevant to process incident investigation. In the course of investigating many process incidents, I have come to the conclusion that you need to be like the bumblebee (keep your mind open, and avoid jumping to conclusion!) while investigating incidents. Many chemical process incidents may apparently not reveal the root causes immediately. I have used the event and causal factor analysis/barrier analysis and Man-Technology-Organization analysis to determine the root causes of many chemical incidents. Also, listen to the people who were present during the incident and observe the incident site. Equipment tell silent tales.

1 comment:

  1. Well said. Many incident investigations remain silent many hazards such as electrostatic, reactivity, etc. due to poor knowledge dissemination in these areas.

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